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May(de): A Bit Burton

It’s very easy for me to “winterise” most of my custom-made summer frocks with the addition of opaque tights and a long sleeved cardigan, but what if the statement feature of the dress is on the back? Well, you layer underneath, obviously.

The wonderful Kay Em Kay heart-back dress that I bought for my honeymooon (minimoon? micromoon?) has been sitting in my wardrobe, and I was so sad I wasn’t going to be able to feature it in May(de) because it’s totally a hot-weather dress. Then I thought about how I’ve worn close fitting long-sleeved tops under t-shirts before, and I decided to do the same thing with the dress.

I think the result is a little bit old-school Tim Burton with the black and white stripy sleeves. I threw in a bit of red in the waist and the little glittery bow brooch at the neckline because I felt like I’d walked out of a black and white film. And also because, well, why not, right?

From the back it’s…. ooookay. The pattern of the top flashing through the cutout is great, but I’m not sure I’m sold on the wide stripes; it seems to mess with the clean shape of the heart. I think I’d like to try it again (not with a plain top – I tried that, and it looked weird from the front) but maybe with a polkadot top. Or a top with thinner stripes.

21 thoughts on “May(de): A Bit Burton”

You look so cute!
I am a big fan of underlayers like this. I’ve just got this lace top to wear under some of my summer dresses and/or tops, as spring/summer in the UK is very ‘winter-like’ at the moment http://carmakoma.com/en/toppe/alibi.html

I have ordered more and more from them over the last few seasons (the sales are fantastic) and I think the quality is amazing. Some stuff is dry-clean only but mostly the fabrics are washable and wear well. The finish is great and the little extra design details really make a difference. I really recommend Carmakoma.

The lace top is fab and is thick, stretchy yet soft lace. No scratchiness at all!
x

I must say that I really like the Tim Burtoness of the whole look. I’ve tried to layer clothes and turn summer outfits into winter jobbies, however it was an epic fail. This ensemble here is fab, so kudos to you.. ^5 -A.S.

Like everyone else, am really enjoying the daily posts this month! This is another great outfit – the touches of red are perfect. From the front, I think the wide stripes are just right, but I see what you mean about the back – if you hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have noticed, but now I’m curious about how a narrow stripe would look. But then I’m not sure sleeves with a narrow stripe would work so well … maybe there’s a multi-width-striped-top out there somewhere!

Red and white would be good! I also like the idea of polkadots, but maybe not black ones, as you might find them obscuring the pointed bit of the heart in the same way the stripes do. An excuse to buy more tops…

I think this looks really cute!
I was in big W today and they had a couple of different stripey type tops – I’m pretty sure there were thinner stripes – in both their regular (emmerson) and plus size range.

I love the idea of polkadots. Could you pin a plain piece of fabric inside it? So that it was stripy arms, black dress, red heart (or something) I suppose you could get the same effect by wearing a singlet between the top and dress, but that would be too many clingy layers for me.